Japanese Spinach With Sesame Dressing

February 22, 2009 at 5:41 am (Appetizer, Recipes)
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February 20, 2009 Recipes for Health from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/health/20recipehealth.html

Japanese Spinach With Sesame Dressing By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN

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This cold spinach bathed in a nutty sesame dressing is my all-time favorite Japanese appetizer. Recipes for it vary; some call for rice wine vinegar, others for dashi, a soup stock. Most versions are much sweeter than this one.

  • 2 6-oz. bags baby spinach (or 1 1/2 pounds, stemmed and washed)
  • 3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sake
  • 1 tablespoon water (more to taste)
  • 1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil 1.
  1. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Fill a bowl with ice water. Blanch the spinach for 10 to 20 seconds in the boiling water and transfer to the ice water using a deep-fry skimmer. Drain and gently squeeze out water. Chop coarsely.
  2. Make the dressing. If your sesame seeds have not been toasted, heat a dry skillet over medium heat and add the sesame seeds. Stir and shake the pan constantly, and as soon as the seeds turn golden and smell nutty, transfer to a suribachi mortar and pestle or to a spice mill. Allow to cool. Grind the seeds just until crushed.
  3. Combine the soy sauce and sugar in a small bowl and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the sake and water, then stir in the ground sesame seeds. Thin out with water. Toss with the spinach and stir together until the dressing infuses the spinach. Be careful not to bruise the spinach leaves. Divide into four small bunches and place in the middle of four small plates or bowls. Drizzle on a few drops of sesame oil. Serve at room temperature.
  4. Yield: Four small servings Advance preparation: You can blanch the spinach up to a day in advance. The dish can be assembled and refrigerated several hours before serving.

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Spinach and glass noodle soup

February 14, 2009 at 8:27 am (Soups, Uncategorized)
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Was traveling in China and found that it was pretty challenging to be a vegetarian as people would kindly show their “disagreement” and generosity by providing and insisting that you taste their best dishes which almost always come with meat or fish.

Finally back on my healthy routines, and try to cook several times a week. This soup I’m about to introduce to you is very simple, and definitely can be a key showcase in your own 30-min meals ;-)

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Key ingredients:

  • fresh baby spinach
  • glass noodles (either thick or thin is fine, best made of green beans and mixed with some wild veggies)
    what I used today was mixed with fiddlehead fern – a very healthy green wild veggie, hehe
  • one tomato diced
  • mushroom (the thin type like golden mushroom)
    what I used today was a kind with brown-ish heads, imported from Korea
  • a can of vegetable broth

Steps:

  1. In a saucepan, pour the vegetable broth and add equal amount of water or a bit more and bring it to simmer
  2. Drop the diced tomato
  3. When the tomatoes become soft, add mushroom and the glass noodles
  4. Check on the glass noodles every once in a while so it’s not too soft or sticky
  5. Put the spinach only a couple minutes before you turn off the heat, and let the soup sit for a minute before serving
  6. Drop a bit sesame  oil for a final touch
  7. Add salt or black pepper to personal taste

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Perfect Lunch

October 27, 2008 at 1:23 am (Main Dish, Recipes, Soups)
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For all you can have for lunch on a warm, sunny autumn Sunday in southern California:

  • Rice cooked with whole mung beans (Mung beans are good for your health, I’ll write about it another day)
  • Cauliflower and bell pepper of colors
  • Spinach and glass noodle soup

Tips for making these dishes:

  • Soak the mung beans for a half day before mixing them with the rice and put into the rice cooker
  • Cauliflower and bell pepper of colors is a great vegan dish that I learned from a Buddhist cooking guidebook. Choose a combination of red, yellow, and orange bell pepper in this case, but not green bell pepper which has a slightly different taste.

To make cauliflower and bell pepper of colors:

  1. Put in a hot pan a drizzle of Canola oil
  2. Then drop in some slices of fresh ginger (and chopped fresh garlic/scallions depending on personal preference)
  3. Add cauliflower cuts, stir well
  4. Wait for a few minutes, and add diced bell peppers
  5. To enhance the flavor, add some vegetarian oyster sauce (my secret ingredient :-) )
  6. Again stir well and keep the the lid on till the veggies are softer before serving

To make the soup:

  1. In a sauce pan, pour half of a can of vegetable broth and mix with twice amount of water
  2. Bring to boil, and drop a small bundle of glass noodles (those made of mung beans, potatos, or with special flavors such as fiddlehead fern are good)
  3. Add some gouqi (dried goji berries) and wild mushrooms (any kind but smaller ones)
  4. Add a bag of fresh spinach the last
  5. Keep simmering for a minute or two then it’s done
  6. Some people like to put a drop of sesame oil right before serving (it smells great and puts a layer of shine on the surface of the soup ~~)

And I know, I know – next time I’ll remember to take pictures before I dive into the delicious meal, okay?

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Water Chestnut Rescue

September 3, 2008 at 7:27 am (Main Dish, Recipes, Stories)
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A couple weeks ago, my roommate bought a big bag of fresh water chestnuts. They then sat in the fridge for days being ignored until one day we figured we have to cook them before they’ve gone bad.

So here are two resolutions of a similar kind: a stir-fry of colorful veggies.

#A: Asparagus, Water chestnuts, Carrots, and Sweet corns.

How to prepare it:

1. Trim the hard ends of fresh asparagus, and cut with an angle (easier to absorb the flavors of seasonings)

2. Peel off the skin of water chestnuts, and cut in halves

3. Some thin slices of carrots and a couple spoonful sweet corns for color.

How to make it:

1. In a hot pan put in some canola oil to cover half of the pan; when it’s hot, drop in the water chestnuts

2. Stir for a few seconds, wait for a minute before putting in the asparagus and carrots.

3. Add a bit of salt, freshly ground black pepper, and about two table spoons of the vegetarian oyster sauce. Stir thoroughly. Leave it with cover for a couple minutes.

4. Add sweet corns, stir well, and turn off the stove.

#B: Nagaimo, Tofu, Water Chestnuts, Carrots, Cucumbers, and Sweet Corns

Ingredients:

  • Water chestnuts in halves
  • Soft tofu
  • Nagaimo in cubes
  • Carrots and cucumbers in cubes
  • Sweet corns from cans

The key in making this dish is the order in which you put each ingredient in: from the hardest to the softest

So it could have worked out better than the one in this picture if I put water chestnuts in first, then carrot and cucumber cubes, then nagaimo cubes, before the soft tofu. Don’t stir too hard as it would break the tofu too much. Similarly, add the sweet corns at the last minute. Just the combination of tofu and nagaimo would be great, but you need to put in some colorful veggies – otherwise, it looks boring ;-)

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My Veggie Version of Beijing Silk Pork Shreds with Brown Sauce [京酱肉丝]

August 21, 2008 at 9:44 am (Main Dish, Recipes)
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My veggie version of the famous Beijing Slik Pork Shreds with Brown Sauce

My veggie version of the famous Beijing Silk Pork Shreds with Brown Sauce

Beijing Silk Port Shreds with Brown Sauce was one of my favorites when I was not a vegetarian yet. So once I became a veggie person, I invented my own version … It was not my best try this time (yesterday) but the idea is there…and I’d love to share…

Key ingredients:

  • King oyster mushroom [杏鲍菇]
  • Soy sheets [豆腐皮]
  • sweet bean sauce [甜面酱]

Other ingredients: Fresh green onions, Vegetarian pork shreds (optional)

How to prepare:

  • Slice the king oyster mushrooms into strips (about 1/4 inch wide, 1 inch long)
  • Thinly slice the green onions to about 2 inches long
  • Cut the soy sheet to about 3×3 inch squares, soak in boiled water for a couple of minutes, take out and dry, put them on a plate with plastic wrap (to prevent it from drying out)
  • Open the can of sweet bean sauce

How to make the dish:

  1. Lay the thinly sliced green onions on a big plate
  2. In a cooking pan, put in some canola oil to cover the bottom. Once the oil is hot, add the king oyster mushroom shreds and the veggie pork shreds, stir well.
  3. Add the sweet bean sauce and mix well
  4. Take it out once the shreds are soft and shining with the brown sauce. Plate on top of the layer of green onions.
  5. Open the soy sheets to serve.

How to enjoy:

  1. The key is to use appropriate amount of oil and sweet bean sauce so the shreds would look shinny.
  2. I’ve been using a combo of veggie pork shreds with the king oyster mushroom shreds, but I guess it would be just fantastic if it was only with the king oyster mushroom shreds.
  3. When you eat, put some green onions and the mushroom shreds in the center of the soy sheet, and wrap it up like a spring roll, and then … bite in :)

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Gobo Gouqi and Fiddlehead Fern Glass Noodle Soup [牛蒡枸杞蕨菜粉丝汤]

August 21, 2008 at 9:09 am (Recipes, Soups)
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Special ingredients:

Gobo [牛蒡]： greater burdock root, good for cancer prevention and control.

Gouqi [枸杞]： also known as Chinese wolfberry, or goji berry.

Fiddlehead fern glass noodle [蕨菜粉丝]: thin glass noodles made of a mix of fiddlehead fern powder and flour.

Other ingredients: Daikon, Carrot, Black mushroom, Ginger root, Cilantro, vegetable broth

How to prepare:

  • shred half of a daikon, 1/5 of a carrot (for color)
  • slice a handful of gobo and a half of the ginger root
  • coarsely chop up the cilantro

How to make the soup:

  1. In a medium size pot, boil a mix of vegetable broth and water (about 1:2)
  2. Put the gobo slices and fiddlehead fern glass noodles into the boiled soup base
  3. In a cooking pan, put a little canola oil, drop the ginger slices into the hot pan, then the daikon and carrot shreds together with some freshly ground black pepper. Stir for a few minutes till the smell of the daikon comes out, then add some water and pout the mixture into the soup base
  4. Add black mushroom and gouqi
  5. Let the soup simmer for a few minutes, turn off the stove, and add chopped cilantro to garnish （no need to add other seasonings)

Super natural, super nutritional, and super simple!

牛蒡枸杞蕨菜粉丝汤

牛蒡枸杞蕨菜粉丝汤

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